COLUMBUS, Ohio – Central Ohio drivers are seeing higher gas prices as they return to work and school after the Labor Day weekend.
A survey by the AAA puts the average price of self-serve regular at $3.61 a gallon this morning, 9 cents higher than last week’s average and 13 cents higher than the price on August 19, driven in part by holiday weekend demand and rising crude oil prices.
While prices remain well below year-ago levels, tensions, unrest and violence in the Middle East and North Africa have kept global oil prices higher than recent summers, AAA public relations manager Michael Green said.
Crude oil prices settled above $100 per barrel each day since the beginning of July due in large part to reports of violence in Egypt, Libya and Syria.
The benchmark price of crude oil has fallen $1.71 since Thursday, but still closed at $107.09 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.